Brandon Bass and I are pleased to announce that the inaugural edition of Tennessee Trial Law Report – Tort Law Edition has been printed and mailed to Tennessee lawyers who we know practice tort law.
Brandon and I resigned from our position as editors of the Tennessee Tort Law Letter and launched this new publication in an effort to better serve the needs of lawyers in the state that do tort work. It is our view that tort lawyers need to stay current on the law of torts – but we also need to stay current on the law of evidence, civil procedure and trial. So, Tennessee Trial Law Report summarizes opinions in all four fields, whether those opinions are primarily tort opinions or instead are domestic, commercial or criminal law opinions that have morsels of information tort lawyers need to know.
For example, one of our lead opinions this month is not a tort case at all but rather a Court of Criminal Appeals opinion by Presiding Judge Joe Tipton on expert testimony. Another of our summaries addresses a non-tort Tennessee Supreme Court case on a important evidence issue.
I know what you may be thinking: "I barely have time to keep up with tort law. How can I keep up with the law of evidence, civil procedure and trial every month?" Well, we have tried to ease the burden. While we have summarized every case, we also prioritize each case, telling you the opinions you must read, the opinions you should read if you practice in a particular area of tort law, and the opinions you probably don’t want to read unless you have a similar case pending. So, you can read the newsletter, get a readable summary of each case, and then know what else you need to read to stay up to date.
The newsletter also includes a feature called "The Law of Trial." There are so few trials these days that it is easy to forget the body of law particular to trial procedures. This monthly column will go through the entire trial process and give you not only the law but also practical tips. The first column concerns scheduling orders.
The newsletter also includes a complete list of all cases before the Tennessee Supreme Court addressing the law of torts, evidence, civil procedure and trial.
As I said above, we tried to identify Tennessee lawyers who do tort work and sent them a free sample of the newsletter. We hope each of our readers is on the list. If you do not receive your copy in the next few days go to the newsletter website and request a copy.
Finally, please let us know what you think of the newsletter. We tried to anticipate what our readers need and want to better serve their clients but we remain open to making changes in the format of the publication.